Not only am I a handsome guy, but I’m also a crazy talented gamer?!

EPISODE 1

Bang, bang, bang!

The cheerful sound of gunfire echoed through the room. All four bullets hit the target squarely in the center. It was the swift and precise shooting of a seasoned shot.

‘Not quite rusty yet.’

I put the gun down and thought back to the glory days. Shooting during an Olympic event. Nowadays, S2 beam guns and old-fashioned pistols have become obsolete, but they still have a firm place in the Olympic program.

I had competed for the Korean Empire in shooting and had won gold medals more than once.

In the past, no matter how many gold medals you won, you were only paid a million won once a month, and only to one person.

But nowadays, the population is about 1.5 times larger than it used to be.

This is partly because the average life expectancy has risen to over 90 years old, increasing the number of elderly people. but also because countries have emphasized fertility rather than family planning, bringing the population to nearly 10 billion.

And with that, the number of athletes naturally increased. With a larger population, there are naturally more talented people in each field.

The Olympics needed more and better athletes, and the standard of the Games increased.

After a few years, they started paying money based on the number of gold medals won, and the excitement of the Olympics grew even more.

“Even though I’m retired now, I have enough money coming into my bank account to live on, so I don’t have to worry about it.”

However, without a pistol in my hand, my day somehow didn’t start right and I feel empty, so I never stopped shooting and enjoy it as a sport.

I left the shooting range and wandered the streets. I’ve been a dead man walking for two years now.

I had lived like a dead man for two years without anything happening. Then I discovered the game Sudden Death.

Sudden Death is one of the most popular first-person shooters in the genre, boasting a large arsenal of guns and a stable setting to match.

I started playing it when it was in beta testing.

Coincidentally, it came out not long after I came out of retirement and got my mind right.

I became addicted to the game, getting a weird thrill out of killing people I couldn’t do in real life, and as a result, I was able to climb the leaderboards.

I became a ranked player because I was highly skilled with the gun, and the advances in virtual reality gaming meant that each player’s senses could be realized virtually.

I headed straight to the virtual reality game room. Being a blank slate on paper, I had nothing to do but play games.

At the virtual reality game room, I managed to get a part-time job and a seat in a capsule dedicated to Sudden Death.

-Would you like to log in?

“Yes.”

-I’m going to check your iris and brainwaves, Mr. One shot One kill. You’re connected. Do you wish to auto-enter?

“Yes.”

-Have a great time..

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, another world had already opened before me.

My sixth sense was as real as ever, and the air seemed to be cleaner here. It was all brainwave control, of course, but it felt refreshing.

I looked around at my teammates. Most of them seemed to be seasoned players. It was time for the tactical meeting, right before the game.

We have five minutes to strategize, and then the game starts in five minutes.

One of my teammates, a more experienced player with better weapons, gathers the others.

“I know this map a little bit, so I’ll try to explain it as clearly as I can. This map has three roads, each leading to the enemy lines. Of course, it’s the same on the other side… The first path leads to the left. It’s not a straight line to the enemy lines, and it’s a bit of a loop, but there are plenty of places to hide, so the risk is low.”

He left it at that, took a breath, and continued.

“The road to the right is the same, and it’s probably safe to go either way, but the road in front of us is straight, and the distance to the enemy is very close, and if we can get through it, we can hit them in the back of the head if they go the other way. But the middle path is a bit risky because your opponent thinks so too, and there’s no place to hide. If an enemy is hiding at the end of the road, it’s game over. Avoid the middle path whenever possible.”

If you want to show your rank to others, you can, but most users hide it because it can reveal your power, and if you were a beginner, you might be forced to leave. The rank of the person I was talking about was estimated based on this. Of course, this was a one-sided guess from my own experience.

“I’ll take the middle path.”

“You will?”

When I said yes, the user who had explained it to me earlier asked back.

“Your gun is an MG36, high damage but inaccurate. You should go the other way, a sniper is waiting for you.”

“I don’t care what you say, I’m coming. It’s the end of the mission, so good luck.”

I dismissed his comments. My gun was an MG36, which does a lot of damage. It was not a gun for beginners due to its inaccuracy, but I found it surprisingly easy to handle. This was because my marksmanship was excellent.

-Victory condition, Sudden Death of all enemies.

It was the beginning of the game. I ran down the middle path.

I had to get through it fast. If a sniper was waiting for me, it was literally game over. Of course, the enemies were almost as wary of the middle path. “Who would take that dangerous path?” they’d say. But I was a hotheaded kid who defied common sense.

I ran down the dark road without thinking.

“That corner is dangerous.”

As I neared the enemy lines, I watched out for corners that were hard to see. It was the perfect place for a sniper to hide. I crawled over to it. Fortunately, there was no sign of the enemy. I got back up and ran quickly. From the enemy’s point of view, I took the path on the left.

Perhaps they had abandoned the middle path and ran through the left and right paths like we did. As I got closer, I saw a user crouching behind a crate.

Doo-doo-doo-doo!

I heard a deafening gunshot and the enemy was dead. I looked at the battlefield and saw that my team had already lost two players and the enemy had lost four. It seemed like our team had the upper hand. Suddenly, I heard a very loud explosion.

Kwagwagwagwagwang!

“Shit, it’s a bomb, multiple bombs.”

Five of our team were killed instantly, and three of the enemy, who were near the bomb, were also killed. It wasn’t a losing proposition for them; it was now a one-on-one fight between me and the alleged bomber.

I quickly turned to the direction of the explosion, which I assumed had come from the main camp. I cautiously walked toward the main camp. I checked my back constantly. If I die, my perfect record will be blemished by one loss. I can’t lose.

Ting. Ting. Ting.

Suddenly, I hear the sound of a grenade rolling behind me. The grenade’s face shows the time remaining before it explodes.

-5, 4…

“There’s no escape!”

It was too late to run away. No matter how fast I rolled, it was impossible to get out of the blast range.

I looked around to find my enemy, but there was no need to search. He grinned as he shoved his hands into his pants, as if confident of victory.

Yellow spiky hair and a gaunt face. He was my least favorite of the bunch. If he’s not wearing a helmet, he was confident, right?

“I’ll show you what happens when you don’t wear a helmet.”

-2

The moment the grenade’s number changed to two, I fired a single shot, aiming for his forehead.

BANG!

-1

BANG!

-Game over

I was dead.

‘What happened to the match, did I lose?

-It’s a draw.

The machine announced that the game was a draw. I couldn’t have drawn without catching my opponent off guard. Fortunately, I didn’t leave the stain of defeat. I started laughing at the thought of my opponent’s face crumpled into a mess.

I aimed for his forehead and took a shot unconditionally. Wearing a helmet reduces the odds to 3 percent, but my opponent was not wearing one.

* * *

I came out of the capsule in a good mood. I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately, but somehow my mood has improved considerably. I looked at the time and realized that the game took a total of 30 minutes.

“I should go home.”

I paid 2,500 won and left the game room. I took a taxi and arrived home an hour later.

When I arrived at my house, the iris meter scanned my eyes, and the door opened automatically. When I entered the house, the living room fired and the computer turned on by itself.

I walked over to the computer and searched the internet, as was my routine.

“Game empire.”

I typed it out and was automatically directed to the Game Empire site.

It was the largest gaming information site, with previews and reviews for almost every game out there. This was where I found Sudden Death.

The site has weekly game popularity polls, and Sudden Death piqued my interest because it had been ranked #1 in the shooter category and #2 overall for over a year.

A role-playing (RPG) game called Middle Earth (ME) has been at the top of the charts for over a year now. But I have no experience with virtual reality RPGs, so I didn’t touch it.

From what I’ve heard, it was a new second world. I’ve heard that it was so perfectly balanced and stable that it was like a second life, only with a different worldview.

But to become a top-ranked player, I was told, you not only need to invest a lot of time, but also have a strategy. You have to find good hunting grounds and perfect your skills without wasting them.

It was a cerebral game, and as someone who likes things simple, I wasn’t too keen on it.

But when I saw that it beat my favorite game, Sudden Death, and was always in first place, I knew it was probably good. Of course, it was not my cup of tea, so I was not going to start it.

More recently, I’ve been thinking about buying a capsule. The capsule is very expensive. It costs about 5 million. Of course, it was a gaming capsule with a nutrition and stabilization device, but for an old man like me, the latest capsules are safer and have fewer side effects.

Five million won, half of my monthly income. It was not a small amount of money. The more expensive things you bought, the more you had to think twice. That was why I’ve been stuck for a month.

The question of whether I should buy a game package that includes all the games or a capsule for only Sudden Death was also a headache.

The all-inclusive capsule is about 1.5 times more expensive than the Sudden Death-only capsule, but it’s worth it in the long run if you end up playing other games. But it’s a lot of money and it’s a real headache.

“What about this?”

I scrolled through Game Empire and found an interesting ad.

“Comprehensive game package capsule for 4 million won!”

If the capsule for Sudden Death alone was 5 million won, but the capsule for the comprehensive game package was 4 million won, it was incredibly cheap.

Especially since it included all the options (nutrition + stabilization + auto-healing).

‘most of these ads were aimed at something…….’

With such a good deal, there was something I have to sacrifice. I clicked on the ad to find out.

‘Middle Earth (ME) event?’

-Do you want to join?

“Yes.”